The film, “Reel Injun” reveals a distortion of the way Hollywood sees Native American life through comedy and the real way Native Americans live which changes according to the current times. Dozens of films recreate the way Americans believe Natives live as savages and wear costumes decorated with feathers, but Hollywood does not show the true spiritual side and the meaning of why they live the way they do. US history negatively affect Native American live which lead to the image of Natives to be clouded by imagination through film, changed the way Natives viewed themselves and expect to live, and misshaped the view we have about Natives.
Over the course of the film, clips of many western movies play which show parts of Native Americans
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shown as the enemies of the Americans. Hollywood’s job was to entertain so they created films that showed the braveness of these savage Natives and eventually moved onto silent films and caricatures to add more entertainment to the industry. They depict the Natives as stoic savages with their traditional wear fighting the white men over land that was claimed by the Natives first. “When we watched the Indians getting slaughtered at the end of every movie... well, my brother would refuse to watch it,” explains Russell Means. These films created centuries after the actual massacres occurred show the trouble filmmakers go through to even find Natives who fit the part they search for. Nonetheless, they could never find the “correct Indian,” in some occasions they used regular actors from Hollywood and spray paint them to look as if they are Natives with wearing feathers and headbands as their costumes. One Native said, “Up here we don’t wear feathers or ride horses but because of the movies a lot of the world thinks we do.” The films present an imagination created by filmmakers instead of what the culture really is about and display mockery of the culture in its entirety. If we describe the real way the natives dress and live their lives, it would open a new door of viewing this culture, but history as we know it only the victors tell the stories, and the victors are white American men. Hollywood creates movies about Native life regarding over 200 years ago, but they do not consider that Natives are still much alive in their beliefs and created civilizations to be more “American.” Hollywood plays a big role because they create the image of Native Americans for the world.
One of the Natives says “We’re Indians watching Indians on tv,” which seems surreal because it is not how they live as savages. Over time these real Indians start to believe that what films show is their reality because aside from the stories they hear, seeing it shows a new perspective and changes their views on how their ancestors lived. It changes their views as in they believe they must all be these tough men who are masters of horseback riding, when they do not even own a horse. So it becomes a race to save the image or prove themselves that they have of their own culture in their own land, which is harder once civilizations grow and forget that Natives too are humans. John Trudell explains, “We're too busy trying to protect the idea of a Native American or an Indian - but we're not Indians and we're not Native Americans. We're older than both concepts. We're the people. We're the human beings.” Moreover, Native Americans believe in the great spirits of their ancestors and how nature is one with humans, but the sacred lands of where their ancestors fought for freedom and died, become forgotten by erasing the memory Americans have about the battles. The Battle of Little Bigfoot and The Battle of Wounded Knee is very much alive for the Natives in the film, there is a deep respect for their ancestors, but the memory of their ancestors only lives in them. “We'll never be able to …show more content…
change the fantasy of who and what Indians are. That fantasy will always be there. We'll be... we'll always be on covers of novels saying "Cheyenne Warrior,” depicts Adam Beach. The history we know over Native Americans continues to distort and disappear over the years. US history has differentiated their teachings, and separated the importance of Native American life to teach more “interesting” history.
Their history is no longer about their teachings or the oral stories told for years, but now it becomes a show to about how they dressed. Native life is very much alive, it is not considered just history but lives in the lives of their descendants, the Native Americans which have become forgotten. Furthermore, in the film there is an uprise of Hippies that use headbands and live as free spirits like the Natives, but the Natives explain that they never used headbands or live freely. “Spiritual, noble and free has captured the imagination of Americans,” is expressed in the Reel Injun to interpret the characteristics we have deemed over “indians.” In particular, the movie Pocahontas is the first modern animation we see as a representation of Native America. It is presented as a glimpse of history and a mockery to Indian life. From the beginning, it details the love story between Pocahontas and John Smith, but Pocahontas was not the woman we see in real life, she was about 9 years old when they first encounter each other. Society deems this movie to be a creation of what life was for the Natives, but now society says “Natives aren’t true Americans.” Comments and movies as such affect Natives and their image, because people like Russell Means suffered consequences when white boys would encounter them. “And all of a sudden we'd hear,
"There's those Indians," and we'd start fighting. We had to fight them white kids. Every Saturday we knew we was gonna get in a fight,” says Russell Means. US History misshaped changing times to believe that Natives are not the rightful owners of American soil, and they are not true Americans because they do not look or act like Americans. “The mightiest nation in the world tried to exterminate us, anglicise us, Christianize us, Americanize us, but we just keep going and going. And I think that Energizer Bunny must be Indian,” details Charlie Hill. This is the live Americans expected Natives to follow. This is the image of a “real” American, but that is how we are misshapen in our own views according to our current times because now we believe that living according to our own culture is wrongful. This new idea of assimilation to one culture is ideal, but diversity exists such as the Natives who want to retain their teachings and culture. In conclusion, Reel Injun opens the door to the reality of the way Native Americans live today, and how they are affected by the oppression their ancestors once suffered. Hollywood portrays an image of Indians differently than how Indians actually live, instead of wearing traditional wear, they are live up to the American image. This is due to the way America has mistreated them and attempted to influence Natives into assimilation instead of being the image of a savage. US history has negatively affected Native Americans because apart from taking their sacred lands we attempt to deprive them from their culture and from living according to the way their ancestors lived. Surely, we see Natives who have great respect for the spiritual world and their ancestors, so they hold their close ties to the memories and the oral stories passed down through generations. The film provides insight to real Natives who are exploring their native land such as Neil Diamond, but he finds that Hollywood diverted the image into a comedic and imaginative life. From creating a film industry based on Native life to considering Natives are not true Americans, Native Americans fight endlessly to keep alive a culture that has been forgotten about in our current times due to the disrespect Americans have towards the first true Americans on the land. But the culture goes beyond the feathers and the headbands, Native Americans hold a connection to the land their ancestors fought for and hold a bond as a community.
Pages one to sixty- nine in Indian From The Inside: Native American Philosophy and Cultural Renewal by Dennis McPherson and J. Douglas Rabb, provides the beginning of an in-depth analysis of Native American cultural philosophy. It also states the ways in which western perspective has played a role in our understanding of Native American culture and similarities between Western culture and Native American culture. The section of reading can be divided into three lenses. The first section focus is on the theoretical understanding of self in respect to the space around us. The second section provides a historical background into the relationship between Native Americans and British colonial power. The last section focus is on the affiliation of otherworldliness that exist between
In The White Man’s Indian, Robert Berkhoffer analyzes how Native Americans have maintained a negative stereotype because of Whites. As a matter of fact, this book examines the evolution of Native Americans throughout American history by explaining the origin of the Indian stereotype, the change from religious justification to scientific racism to a modern anthropological viewpoint of Native Americans, the White portrayal of Native Americans through art, and the policies enacted to keep Native Americans as Whites perceive them to be. In the hope that Native Americans will be able to overcome how Whites have portrayed them, Berkhoffer is presenting
The Historical Interaction Between the Europeans and Indians in the Disney Movie Pocahontas Over the past couple of weeks, we have been studying the story of the Native American (Indian) princess, Pocahontas. We have studied both literature and the 1995 Disney movie. I am going to write about what methods are used to portray the relationship between these two civilisations. Both media portray the same relationship between the civilisations; this is one of mistrust, misunderstanding and dislike. From the moment the Europeans landed in "the new world", the natives were not sure of what to think of them, they looked different, sounded different and carried themselves differently.
Reel Injun is a compelling, thought-provoking documentary that shows how movies have stereotyped Native Americans, and has shaped how society in general viewed Natives. The film seeks to show how Natives really are, and ultimately seeks to correct the Native stereotypes created through the Hollywood Native films. Neil Diamond discusses why films about Natives were originally created and how Natives were portrayed in the early years of film. Through the documentary he continues to show how Natives and their culture changed in the eyes of society.
The depiction of Native Americans to the current day youth in the United States is a colorful fantasy used to cover up an unwarranted past. Native people are dressed from head to toe in feathers and paint while dancing around fires. They attempt to make good relations with European settlers but were then taken advantage of their “hippie” ways. However, this dramatized view is particularly portrayed through media and mainstream culture. It is also the one perspective every person remembers because they grew up being taught these views. Yet, Colin Calloway the author of First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, wishes to bring forth contradicting ideas. He doesn’t wish to disprove history; he only wishes to rewrite it.
By implementing pictures, ideas, and interviews in the film made it seem authentic and presented by individuals who took part. The illustrations of tanks, helicopters, and guns formed an emotional stance with mournful music following while the Americans were forcing the Indians off of American ground where they did not belong. Trudell explains how Indian children are getting to know the relationship between the government and themselves. The Indians want to be treated as human beings, treated equally, and to be treated with respect. Why could they not obtain the same level of respect as others
Cowboys and Indians is the popular game played by many children played as a game of heroes and villains. Natives are villainized in American pop culture due to the history being told by educational institutions across the nation. There are not many positive roles popular in the media about Native Americans. Many roles are even played by white people. The costume representation is not accurate either. The disrespect towards them is especially seem on Halloween, when people dress as Natives in cute and sexy ways that they think represent their culture. War paint, beads, feathers and headdresses are ceremonial accessories that represent their culture, it not a fun costume to wear. Only if they are being criticized and ridiculed, like they have been in the past. Racism has also been a huge problem when it comes to using creative names for sports teams, like the Redskins for example. Redskin is a derogatory and offensive term towards Native Americans and many white people do not see it as wrong due to the privilege they inherited throughout history. The disrespect towards them has grown and today it seems that if Natives were not getting ridiculed, they are for the most part ignored. The concerns that King describes in his book explains how the past has wired Americans to believing everything they have once learned. White people
A Cree filmmaker named Neil Diamond directed Reel Injun. At a young age, he always cheered for the cowboys but never realizing that he was the Indian. He explores the portrayals of North American Natives through a century of cinema. These images of Natives have shaped people's opinions and views about Aboriginals. Through these depictions, it has led to stereotypes that caused discrimination among the First Nations. Reel Injun emphasizes not to generalize indigenous people through media and films.
The movie starts by showing the Indians as “bad” when Johnson finds a note of another mountain man who has “savagely” been killed by the Indians. This view changes as the movie points out tribes instead of Indians as just one group. Some of the tribes are shown dangerous and not to be messed with while others are friendly, still each tribe treats Johnson as “outsider.” Indians are not portrayed as greater than “...
Back in the days 1607 was the time where Natives of American had their own land and freedom. Coming to the contribution of the film of Pocahontas with the cons and pros. The history will continue and a famous figure should always be honored. Disney is leaving out and changing out the most important events from this historical figure that represents the Native Americans her name is Pocahontas.
As a result, both films represent Natives Americans under the point of view of non-Native directors. Despite the fact that they made use of the fabricated stereotypes in their illustrations of the indigenous people, their portrayal was revolutionary in its own times. Each of the films add in their own way a new approach to the representation of indigenous people, their stories unfold partly unlike. These differences make one look at the indigenous not only as one dimensional beings but as multifaceted beings, as Dunbar say, “they are just like us.” This is finally a sense of fairness and respect by the non-native populations to the Native Indians.
It appears the caricature of Native Americans remains the same as first seen from the first settler’s eyes: savage-like people. Their culture and identity has become marginalized by popular culture. This is most evident in mainstream media. There exists a dearth of Native American presence in the mainstream media. There is a lack of Native American characters in different media mediums.
The Disney movies of Pocahontas tell a plot of a Native ¬American tribe and English colonists that fight for the land the Native Americans live on though war ultimately creating moderate peace. While keeping to their own sect, the imbalance of power between the two social groups is prevalent throughout much of the story. Walt Disney’s Pocahontas is more than a classic children’s movie. It is a thoughtful, well contrived narration that portrays a message that in order to fit in, you must be a certain race and born into a specific culture. Disney’s Pocahontas suggesting that the color of our skin shouldn’t matter when being accepted into social groups as well as the idea that arranged marriage should be rejected. Thus, treating people right could ultimately have a positive outcome and lastly, the film also suggests that family roles change without a mother figure.
I enjoyed watching Disney films while growing up, and Pocahontas was one that I watched often. In the movie, Pocahontas was portrayed as being an “Indian Princess” that was one with nature as well as submissive. One of my favorite Disney movies was Peter Pan. Both films obviously contain many Native American stereotypes, such as that Native Americans are an unprogressive people and savages. In Peter Pan, the characters wore sacred headdresses, sat in a circle and smoked tobacco while chanting to a stereotypical Indian drum beat. “What Makes the Red Man Red?”, a song in Peter Pan, contains incredibly offensive terms such as “injun” and “squaw” in the lyrics. In Pocahontas, the terms “savage”, “devil”, and “primitive” are used to describe Native
Produced in 1943, They Died With Their Boots On, a Warner Brothers® film, is a horribly inaccurate account of the events that lead to the Battle of Little Big Horn. His early days in war were depicted accurately, however. Boots told of his experiences at West Pointe; the most important experience is, notably, his graduation. He received the absolute worst scores ever recorded at West Pointe upon his commencement. After that point, it all goes down hill. Custer was also a womanizer, but in this film he was quite a gentlemen, being sure to get Elizabeth Bacon’s father’s permission for everything the two did together. Custer was displayed as a very sympathetic and warm-hearted general, while he was, in actuality, not such. Custer was known to be rather a large egoist and somewhat of a rude man. Then, for “dramatic effect”, filmmakers fabricated a conspiracy that Custer’s “enemies” concocted to remove him from opposition. His opponents, executives of a large company which he refused a position in, “lied” about gold in the Black Hills in order to trick thousands of Americans into violating a peace treaty with the Sioux. The truth: there really WAS gold in the Black Hills. Negro slaves were depicted as goofy and silly, added only for comic effect. One lady in particular danced about singing a rhyme, “Rabbit’s foot, work your charm, protect that lady’s man from harm!” after reading the “tea leaves” for a friend. The Sioux Indians were also depicted rather inaccurately. They all wore a single feather in the backs of their heads and yipped and hollered just as “Indians” would do. They screamed and beat their hands on their mouths, all the while speaking English in the manner of a five year-old. Finally, the film’s depiction of Civil War battles, not to mention the battle of Little Big Horn, were laughable. There were twenty, MAYBE thirty men all lined up on either side of the field, and every time the Union soldiers fought, at least two Confederate soldiers or Indians fell, dead. However, when the opposing side fired or attacked, the Union cavalries were nearly impregnable.